The Sharks’ summer of zigzagging and redefining terms — plus a few thoughts on the angry response to the impending arrival of ‘ice girls’

SAN JOSE – Do not feel bad if you’re having a hard time trying to figure out what the Sharks are up to this summer. And we’re not even talking about the firing of Drew Remenda or the hiring of “ice girls” as part of an ice team. We’ll get to that last item later.

Anyone paying close attention has learned that while general manager Doug Wilson has been direct in his message, that message often has a “what I really was trying to convey” re-interpretation a few weeks later. And what you and everyone else thought you were hearing? Well, no, that’s not what he meant.

Take the June 1 statement to my Merc colleague, Tim Kawakami, that “I want players who want to play here, not just live here.” It came at a time the focus was on how Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau would react to the hint that maybe veterans don’t want to stick around while the team undergoes a rebuild (and we’ll get to that term shortly).

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So, naturally, that “play here, not live here” statement seemed to be directed at those two players – both of whom were signed to new three-year contracts in January that included no-movement clauses. And nobody from the Sharks expressed any concern about that.

But, two weeks later, Wilson said no, he wasn’t referring to anybody now on the team. He was talking about former players who might be interested in coming back to the Sharks.

What? There were no names mentioned, but if that was his intended meaning, maybe it was directed at former Sharks Devin Setoguchi or Evegni Nabokov. Who knows? And if that’s who he really was referring to, pretty much a safe bet the comments would not have gotten the attention they did – all part of the indirect pressure put on Thornton and Marleau.

Then, late last week, Wilson wanted to clarify what he means by the word rebuild – one he’s used freely since the Sharks made their most recent playoff exit.

Normally, a rebuild means a team looking past the present and to the future. Normally, it’s a signal to expect a dropoff in performance while a team regroups – with the only thing in doubt is how far a team will drop and how long that fallow period would last. Wilson even reinforced that with references to the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks, who missed the playoffs for season after season after season before turning things around. He did say the Sharks wouldn’t need that much time, but it was clearly a signal not to have high expectations going forward with the payoff coming later.

But late last week, Wilson wanted to clarify what he meant by rebuild. He never said this team would miss the playoffs – and that’s true. But nobody ever claimed that he did.

He said the Sharks are still a very good team And when he was talking about rebuild, he meant rebuild the culture and the hierachy. And that is what he has done with players such as Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun getting more responsibility on and off the ice. Oh, and that “step backward to take two steps forward?” That second part comes in September when players return for training camp.

You can find the story I wrote on that conversation for Saturday’s paper here . And, no, that’s not what I thought he meant either.

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The easy explanation for all that is that things haven’t gone as Wilson would have preferred, that Thornton and Marleau did not take the hint – understandable because then they become the fall guys and, even worse, have to relocate after giving the Sharks a hometown discount.

One other factor: The Sharks say their ticket renewal rate is a work in progress as they connect, as they always do, with fans who have canceled tickets and often are successful in getting them back in the fold. I’m just thinking aloud here, but maybe the “rebuild” talk on top of everything else pushed a few too many out the door. And now the message has to be more upbeat than it had been.

Maybe everything will work out for the best. Maybe this changing of the guard will go smoothly and everybody will unite to show the boss he was wrong in his initial assessment of what went horribly wrong against the Los Angeles Kings.

The one person I don’t envy at this point is Coach Todd McLellan. With Wilson’s latest re-definition, he now has the challenge of producing victories with a lineup that seems to have been divided into camps by the general manger himself.

*****Anyone who thinks the Sharks are about to hire “ice girls” showing as much skin as those in Dallas or Chicago or a dozen other cities is probably mistaken. I think Sharks chief operating officer John Tortora will aim for something less revealing or more appropriate for something in this market.

He said that in the story that ran in the print edition today and you can find it online here . But to me, the key quote in that story came not from Tortora, but one of the fans upset by the prospect of the change that is about to come. Heidi Finan, a 50-year-old fan from Cupertino called it “culturally tone deaf” and this seems to nail it.

The point was driven home as I divided the 30 NHL teams into haves and have-nots as far as “ice girls” – the accepted term even if the Sharks prefer to look at them as the female members of their “ice team.” San Jose would become the 22nd team to go that route. Of the other eight, five are in Canada where the game itself must be seen as enough of a draw. Of the three in the United States, two – Detroit and Buffalo – are smack dab on the Canadian border; the third team, the New York Rangers, had a crew until sexual harassment charges surfaced in 2004. Those did not involve players, by the way, but members of the team’s administrative office.

So why does San Jose find itself in a somewhat unique spot? Let’s go with the obvious answer: Northen California is probably the most politically progressive metropolitan area in the United States. That can mean a lot of things. But to a lot of political progressives, ice girls are another form of the objectification of women and that’s not a good thing.

No, we’re not talking all fans. And, yes, those who object probably have other reasons as well. But it’s safe to say San Jose has gone this long without ice girls for a reason. The idea has come up in the past only to be shot down by either CEO Greg Jamison or past owners who had a sense how this would play both in the community and, if truth be told, on the home front.

The story made reference to digital petitions being signed on both Facebook and at change.org. I suppose I could drive a little traffic there if I gave the link, but I’ll let someone in the comment section do that for me so it looks a little less like I’m stirring the pot.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

I pay enough attention to politics and other aspects of life top not be surprised how easily people are offended. There is no difference here with the Ice Team and specifically the females of the proposed group. I am less and less surprised at the more and more contrived outrage.

If the Sharks continue with the Ice Team, don’t go to the games. If that is the case, so you don’t have a double standard, don’t go the football and basketball games either if the good looking and well presented cheerleader offends you. You have a choice, just exercise it aye.

spooky

Play here not live here was for Stuart.
Rebuild meant Boyle and Havlat gone. Those were big bucks.
It is realy simple for me.

GP_hockeyhappens

“…bunch of hot chicks gyrating.”

For all we know, based on the history of the deceased bay area ex-google exec by a pro (and had also been a stripper) and someone that may have paid lots of bills for everyone else, this may be exactly what many of the lower bowl or suite holders want. The news is, they aren’t getting it.

GP_hockeyhappens

I agree spooky.

If that was about anyone on the team it was Stuart. I had stated as much a few weeks ago. I am not sure of that any longer, but, Stuart did appear to take the out on the rebuild and accepted a trade to what appears to be a contender in Colorado.

For that matter, I will conclude something with hardly any facts. Stuart played along side Demers a lot. He just may be tired of having to cover up for a d-man that won’t do his job. I am not what he will get as a D partner in Co, but I recall they tried to get more experience on the Blue Line.

So, pretty much sums up everything a few of us have said over and over the past month or so.

This isn’t NHL 14… DW can’t just make trades happen, especially ridiculously lopsided ones as are usually suggested.

Things aren’t done yet… people whining about our current roster being the iced roster come october need to delay their retarded statements until October, at which point, if still accurate, will be valid.

Buddy Elf

I’d like to have an online discussion without ridiculous hyperbole and a misrepresentation of the facts.

Buddy Elf

But it’s the internet…. we need to be overly dramatic about stuff that doesn’t really matter.

Let me go make an ecard about this to post on Facebook.

ZEKE

that’ll solve the ice girl thing in a hurry.

Buddy Elf

and you get to take your drivers license photo with one of the DMV Dames.

Buddy Elf

I know you were hoping when DP shared DW’s reinterpretation of “rebuild” that it meant 88 moving to forward.

Buddy Elf

If you’re just there to watch hockey… why must you “sit” and watch hockey.

Selling those seats would definitely raise some money…

NB Finfan

I think you can add in… no more trading prospects and draft picks to win this year for a while. Its time to replenish the system.

Of course we will see how well that holds up at trade deadline if Sharks are having a good run at that time.

ZEKE

Not very hopeful on that.

I am hopeful that they will move Burns to forward IF multiple young d-men (most likely Mueller and Tennyson) are deserving of ice time so they can both play regularly. That would be consistent with the approach of getting the younger players out there to develop.

The flip side is that if our young forwards take great leaps forward and merit regular playing time, but not those d-men, that should keep Burns on the blue line.

fwiw, having seen Mueller in the prospect game, I’ll be surprised if he’s anything more than a few games here and there this season. Don’t want to read too much into it, but he just didn’t look close to NHL ready. Hope that changes — he’s still really young and has a lot of room to develop.

J B

That throws the baby out with the bath water. Why give up without a fight on seeing your favorite NHL team play live because of a comparatively minor objection to objectification?

Surprising how many characterize the reaction as “outrage.” I see objection but not outrage (it’s the internet so I’m sure there’s some to be found). It has been reasonable and generally thoughtful. (Though I do agree that people love to be outraged anymore; it’s the new national pastime, though that’s not responsible for all of it certainly.)

Most anyone who has been in business would rather hear feedback from customers than have those customers silently walk out the door. The Sharks should pay attention not to only the numbers of objectors but the content of the objections, then consider the overall picture.

J B

Hey, we haven’t tried him at goalie yet…

GP_hockeyhappens

Yep, just as I thought, you’ve evaluated a guy in a dev camp scrimmage.

Tom (fm Quinzee)

Can I borrow that “proto-fascist faux-patriotism” line? It kinda captures what Joseph Heller was getting at with the Great Loyalty Oath Campaign in Catch-22 — which I read about 5 or 6 times while in the service, just to keep me sane…you (and others) can judge whether or not it worked. But it was better than talking with our born-again Executive Officer. THAT would have driven me over the edge.

Db

Same effect, different technique.

Db

gotta disagree with you there.

Db

That’s a fair point.

LTNC

Would be nearly the first time you had ever engaged in one.
badda-boom. I’ll be here all week…

Tom (fm Quinzee)

I don’t have the link anymore…but there is that Philly web site where someone is researching the result of carrying the puck into the zone as opposed to dumping it in. The results were pretty conclusive that it’s better to carry it in, aka keep possession, those results being measured in goals-scored-per-possession. And that survey, if I remember it correctly, was being done by a fan, a woman, after reading the Philly writers “wondering which is better,” and she was starting w/ the Flyers, but promised to keep going through other teams, if not all teams. But again, it was pretty conclusive over a couple of seasons (I think) of analyzing Flyer possessions.

I have no idea how one keeps track of each possession entry into the offensive zone, but if baseball can keep stats on how many drops of sweat are hawked out accidentally with each gob of chewing tobacco spit during the 7th inning stretch, I guess anything can be quantified?

ZEKE

Just making observations — well aware of their limitations — and it appears I noted those limitations as well

GP_hockeyhappens

“…but he just didn’t look close to NHL ready.”

IMO, this is an evaluation. Observation/Evaluation/Conclusion don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Gilfan

Thoughts about all these people bent out of shape about this *ice girl* thing – this is what will happen:
Scenario #1
OK stop in play, can’t wait to see how scantily clad they are, I’m already getting upset. Here they come on the ice…..wait, what? is that maybe a belly button I see? I can’t tell from here. Let me get the binoculars. Yep! Sure is! I’m really upset now! Yoga Pants? Son…of…a…b – I can’t believe it. Honey can you believe? What? You don’t care? Whay are aren’t you covering our kids eyes? jeebus this is bad
Scenario #2
What Ice Girls?

One of the players I watched with more interest was Mirco Mueller. 41 in teal (hard to see who is who much of the time).

3 times where Mueller is clear:

Some corner play with Mueller at about 2:25.

Net front with the goal sequence starting around 4:50 (the ref waved it off, but the replay showed it was a goal).

Mueller shootout shot comes at 7:15

renoshark

Losing Boyle and Havlat isn’t a “rebuild”. Havlat was a non-factor. And Boyle was hardly a difference-maker in which a rebuild would apply.

ZEKE

easier to see if you to go to youtube than the small embedded format here

renoshark

“Listen and read the quotes from TMac and DW.”

I have listened to and read the quotes. That’s my whole point. The “rebuild” has been a moving target since Day 1 of the exit interviews.

renoshark

Mirco won’t be used in shootouts anyway. What he can do is skate up the ice in an expeditious and productive manner, with or without the puck. Something Hannan can’t do. That by itself is an upgrade. He’ll be fine.

CMoreSharks

DW’s “REBUILD” strategy this summer has clearly been presented, but widely misunderstood. Obviously, “REBUILD” is just an anagram of “redub li”.

redub = “To refit; to repair, or make reparation for; hence, to repay or requite.”
Thus, DW wants to fix the Sharks and make up to the fan base for the team’s staggeringly disappointing playoff exit. But how does he intend to go about it? Answer: “li”. It’s so obvious that I don’t know that I really need to expound, but naturally I will anyway.

li(1) = “the solmization syllable used for the semitone between the sixth and seventh degrees of a scale.”
DW thinks the key (oh how I love me a good pun) lies somewhere between the 6th and 7th position – an obvious reference to the blue line.

li(2) = “a Chinese unit of distance, equivalent to about one-third of a mile (0.5 km).”
DW acknowledges we have a ways to go.

li(3) = “a member of an aboriginal people of the island of Hainan in Southeastern China.”
Aha! Hainan… sounds like??? Hannan! Of course! Well played Mr. Wilson! But clearly that can’t be all. There must be more to come, right? Well, we all know where it will come from.

li(4) & (5): “Abbreviation for Long Island”. “International domain name for Liechtenstein”
It just shows how deep our scouting is that we’ve already targeted players from Liechtenstein to be part of the grand redub. And to conclude the grand strategy we finally have:

li(6): “Symbol, Chemistry . lithium.”
Lithium, which we all know is prescribed as a medication for treating depression: “Lithium is used to treat the manic episodes of manic depression. Manic
symptoms include hyperactivity, rushed speech, poor judgment, reduced
need for sleep, aggression, and anger. It also helps to prevent or
lessen the intensity of manic episodes.”

“Redub Li”. It all makes so much sense.

renoshark

I gotta say that I’ve seen the Boston ice-girls up close, in a game at the Garden a few years ago, and they were easy on the eyes. Just sayin’. 😉

elbows99

Speaking of Remenda being gone. The question is: who’s going to replace him? Don’t be surprised if a female is hired to do color. Maybe they’ll hire a girl that failed to make the “Ice Girl” team..

renoshark

Current list of available FA’s. Some decent players still on the list. Weird how The Gooch can’t seem to find a home.

He was a lot better when Thornton was feeding him the puck. Funny how that works …

corvusmd

Well, in the Sharks defense, MOST of the confusion seems to have come from people speculating…not what the Sharks actually said. People kept assuming that we’d move Joe or Patty, but Sharks never actually said that…just handing over responsibility to young guys…which still appears to be the case that this point.

As far as the Ice Girl drama…I’m of the opinion that people just need to let that drama go. There are Ice Boys (and Sharks) also on the ice. The uniforms don’t look revealing at all, you’d think that they were all wearing bikinis or something the way people are getting upset about it. It’ basically a short-cut jersey, that MAY show belly button on some of the girls. In reality, if you are at the game and look left or right you’ll probably see a 14 year old girl wearing less. This just seems like fake drama to me. The girls aren’t slaves, if they apply for that job they know what they are doing. It appears like it’s the fans that are more out of whack than the team…just relax and get ready for another great season of Sharks hockey…if you want fake drama, there’s “Keeping up with the Kardashians” or Justin Beiber and Miley Cyrus…this fake “concern” doesn’t belong in the hockey world, stop trying to turn Hockey into a sissy sport…if something like this is what turns you off…you’re not a real enough fan anyway, have a nice day. The truth is, most guys still won’t even care if the Ice Girls are there or not…at least not for more than 10 seconds…it’ll still be about the game.

n2y2

My money is on Hedican. He’s been steadily taking a larger role on the broadcast team. He lives around here, where Drew has wanted to move back to Canada for a while now; he even tried a few years back – Remember the year of McSorley? I don’t have any special insider knowledge, but it has been pretty obvious that he’d like to live near his boys.

n2y2

The gyrating part is not hyperbole.

I went to a Coyotes home game. Their Ice Girls were doing the full on booty dance during breaks. I was embarrassed for the entire organization. In fact, the local sitting next to us even apologized when he saw the expression on our faces the first time they came out.

I’m not saying that SJ is going to go immediately to that level, but the precedent has been set.

ZEKE

People will see what they want to see.

I think these 3 were the only segments where he was clearly visible and doing something noteworthy.

In the first bit, he gets two chances on the wall to force a puck battle — and both times the other side comes away with it cleanly, then Mirco trips.

The net play is tougher to follow. The forward he is defending does get to the front of the net after a battle and is ready to bang at the puck, though it seemed to go in without that forward whacking at it. You can question whether Mirco needs to switch defend the other forward trying to make the play from behind the net, but its not clear if its his responsibility in the scheme.

The shootout shot speaks for itself, it actually looked worse in person.

There are obvious limits in what to takeaway from this one game. But in this snapshot, at least to me, he didn’t look like a guy who’ll be NHL ready in the next few months.

GP_hockeyhappens

There are a few guys on that list that could be useful if there wasn’t a slight over reaction.

Stevo

corvusmd

That’s a great point/example of the inconsistencies of the Left.

“Progressives” don’t rage over Miley Cyrus’ twerking do they? No outrage over the disfiguring of a woman’s “natural” body with plastic surgery like the Kardashians?

“Progressive” moms approve of their daughters twerking like a streetwalker, but are so angry over what the Ice Girls might do, or what they might look like?

I don’t understand the Democrat war on only some pretty women. Seems like discrimination. Seems hateful.

Tom (fm Quinzee)

You don’t know what you’re talking about – but since you want to display your ignorance, I’d suggest you look for Sinead O’Connor’s open letter to Miley Cyrus, and Cyrus’ pathetic response.